Official apologizes over polluted river

A district official in Yunnan province apologized on Thursday after a local polluted waterway was mocked as "milk river". Lin Hua, deputy head of Dongchuan district in Kunming, the provincial capital, said she apologized on behalf of the district government for failing to prevent such pollution. The apology came after media reports since April 1 saying the water of a river located in the district was milk-white because of pollution.

Tianjin

Two jailed for dealy fire at shopping mall

A fire in a shopping mall in June in which 10 people died and 16 were injured has resulted in the mall's controller, Yao Haili, being sentenced to six years in prison, and Yao Xueliang, the mall's legal representative, sentenced to four years. Six others were also held criminally liable. The fire engulfed the five-story mall in Jixian county.

Shanghai

Tower passes500-meter mark

The Shanghai Tower, under construction in the Pudong district, has reached 501.3 meters, with completion of the 108th floor, the building's contractor said on Thursday. Poised to become China's tallest skyscraper, it will be 632 meters high when completed in December 2014, and will be the world's second-tallest building after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Bank robbery suspect caught

A masked suspect who robbed a bank in the Pudong district has been detained. The man, 23, was caught in the district's Zhangdong Road in the early morning about 13 hours after the robbery, police said. The man wielded a knife and robbed an Industrial and Commercial Bank of China branch in Zhangjiang Road, according to police.

Fare-rise fears over new buses

Fears have risen that new school buses, which meet national standards and are being introduced in September, will lead to widespread fare increases, especially for non-government schools, media reported on Thursday. One school principal told Shanghai Morning Post the school intends to raise the fare from 350 yuan ($56) to 450 yuan a month.

Beijing

Police explain new visa rules

Police officers explained the latest exit-and-entry regulation to foreigners at an event on Thursday, aiming to provide the expatriates with better service and to reduce misunderstandings about procedures. The new regulation, which takes effect on July 1, has added visa classifications and clarified the visa application deadline, according to the municipal exit-entry administration.

Media training center opens

A national media training center opened in the capital on Thursday to help government officials and entrepreneurs hone their abilities to communicate with the media and public. The center was co-founded by the Communication University of China and the China Public Relations Association. It is the first of its kind in China.

Court division for minors

Beijing High People's Court set up an adjudication division on Thursday especially to deal with cases involving minors, aiming to provide more professional trials and better protection for juveniles. The division will not only try criminal cases involving minors, but also civil and administrative ones, according to Sun Li, vice-president of the court.

Heilongjiang

Smugglers seized along border

Police in Heihe, Heilongjiang province, seized more than 8,000 smuggled rare animal furs and 66 kilograms of deer antler velvet from a truck when it attempted to get through the Sino-Russian border, the Heilongjiang Provincial Public Security Frontier Corps announced on Thursday. The authority said the haul of smuggled animal furs was the largest it had ever discovered.

Zhejiang

Smoke forces plane to return

A China Eastern Airlines flight bound for Guangzhou was forced to return to Hangzhou shortly after takeoff on Wednesday morning after passengers noticed smoke in the cabin, according to a media report. After the takeoff of Flight MU5211, an Airbus A320, passengers smelled burning and told the cabin crew, according to the Morning Express in Zhejiang.

Jiangsu

Survey uncovers slight pollution

Shallow groundwater in the province is slightly polluted, according to a survey published by the provincial geological survey institute. Launched in 2006, the survey is said to be the first of its kind to analyze underground water pollution in Jiangsu. More than 3,000 hydro-geological investigation zones and 1,441 pollution sources were included in the survey, which studied the distribution of water pollution in the province.

Xinhua-China Daily